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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25912390">Amongst the Dandelions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzy_Kandra/pseuds/Jazzy_Kandra'>Jazzy_Kandra</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Super Mario &amp; Related Fandoms, Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:41:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,486</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25912390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzy_Kandra/pseuds/Jazzy_Kandra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mario and Geno have a conversation about the people and places that had been.</p><p>It is only, mostly, productive for one of them, at least if you ask Mario.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Amongst the Dandelions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This isn't the first time you've seen the world fall ta pieces, I take it?" Mario said, joining the doll one morning as the group rested in Monstro Town. Or more correctly, lingered and stuck in place, because they weren't sure, yet, how to make it through the ruins and get to Nimbus Land up there in the sky. Apparently, right west of the Overthere. "It's pretty obvious, 'specially to a seasoned adventurer like me. Mine if-a Mario takes a seat?"</p><p>"Be my guest," the doll said, not looking up. His cloak, Mario noticed, was drawn tight around his shoulders, and his hands rested on either side of his outstretched legs, fingers buried in the grass and dandelions on either side of him. His gaze, however, did not seem to notice these. Instead, it flirted with the distant sea, watching as the stars closed their eyes as the sun rose in the east. "I fear I might not be the best company, however…"</p><p>"Do you...always do this?" Mario asked, uncertain of what he meant, exactly, by those words. He let the confusion go, and then flopped down in the field of dandelions, staring up at the heavens, half dark and half light.</p><p>The doll hummed in response, and Mario lifted his head slightly off the ground. For a moment, Geno seemed to glow with an ethereal light, but it quickly vanished, like the remnants of night. The doll shook his head, then with great care, met Mario's gaze. Crimson eyes filled with a thousand tiny stars stared back at him, ageless, powerful, and far more tired than he had expected. For the briefest moment, he peered into the soul of a Star, and found, to his dismay, he could not hold that gaze.</p><p>"It's one of the worst," Geno answered, turning his eyes back to the sea, his voice cold and wooden, unlike its usual animated self. Yes, Mario appreciated the irony of that description, almost as much as he would a good 'shroom...except a good 'shroom would make this talk easier. They always made heavy conversations light. "We...it's generally not so...personal."</p><p>"Ah," Mario said, rolling onto his side and resting his chin in his hand. "So it's-a time then?"</p><p>Geno tilted his head. "Time?"</p><p>He shot the doll a thumbs-up. "For da sappy back story?"</p><p>Geno rolled his eyes. "You've been expecting this?" he asked, his voice growing drier with each word. "I am to, what, just tell you <em> everything </em>about my past? Down to the deepest, darkest secret I have stored in my wooden heart all these long years?"</p><p>"Sounds 'bout right-o."</p><p>Geno snorted in disbelief but did not continue. Fine then. He'd have to explain.</p><p>"It's like in all them games and shows they make 'bout me, ya know," he said, waving his hand vaguely. "All my partners tell me their deep, depressing tales. We always beat the bad guys. I got-a more pronounced accent than this, always saying things like: mama mia, okey-dokey, and yahoo!"</p><p>Fine, the second example was usually something his baby brother said, but it was just an example. And mama always had said never waste a good sample. Of course, she had meant the free food you could get at the grocery store, but hey, one couldn't be too picky with good advice.</p><p>"All them stereotypes, yah. They don't really apply to the real me. Mmhmm."</p><p>Geno studied him for a moment, then nodded sagely. "It sounds to me like you, my friend, are the one who needs to detail his sappy back story."</p><p>He grinned, amazing how a wooden doll could be so expressive. It was, Mario thought, a little freaky. He was certain the toy hadn't had teeth until Geno possessed it.</p><p>Perhaps it was best not to think about.</p><p>So, Mario shook his head and laughed. "Nah," he said, "You tell the tale. It's just how these things are meant to go."</p><p>"I see," Geno deadpanned like he did whenever he did not like Mario's plans like that time in Marrymore... Uh oh.</p><p>"What do ya mean?"</p><p>Instead of a reply, Geno plucked a flower off its stem, twirling the yellow dandelion between two thick wooden fingers.</p><p>"Do you ever wish you could go home again?" the doll asked, considering the blossom in his hand. For a moment, it began to glow, shining as bright as a miniature sun, until it faded, leaving only a plume of white seeds in its wake. An impossibility. A simple wish, he guessed, for dandelions should not change so fast. "Then, you realize, you can't go back...even if the <em> place </em>itself is still there. This flower is still a dandelion, is it not?"</p><p>He blew on the seeds. They flew on the wind, drifting towards the sea.</p><p>"But the people who made it home...Without them, it can't be home any longer…" His voice weakened, carried along that same breeze.</p><p>Mario nodded along with these words. "I 'pose," he replied, and found himself telling a story. "When our ma died, killed by a giant Boo one winter, I had to go home and pick up lil' Weegee and take him in. I just started my 'prenticeship with ol' Uncle Lorenzo, the Jumpman, they called him, but I couldn't just leave my little brother in the big city alone."</p><p>Geno scratched his chin. "Ah," he began. "So, that's why he's so afraid of Boos."</p><p>"Nah. Weegee's always been a scardy cat. Boos are attracted to fear. Feed on it, least the bad ones do." He paused, then shook his head, finally realizing what the stupid doll had done. Why was Geno so good at moving a conversation away from <em> his </em> problems? Mario...Mario did <em> not </em> have such a bad past! No issues at all to speak of. Sure, losing both parents by seventeen sucked, but that was life. One simply moved on and lived, or at least he tried to. "But I...ah...thought we were 'pose to get the sappy back story from you, not me. I don’t have one."</p><p>The doll crossed his arms. "But you long for that place which once was… that home, those people. It's not a place you can, simply, wish back into <em> being </em>…"</p><p>He stared at the now naked flower.</p><p>"Just as I cannot return the seeds to the dandelion, there's no point of trying to return to those memories...to linger on what can no longer be."</p><p>"Pardon me," Mario said, barely containing his anger. Still, he placed a hand on his hip. "That is a downright <em> terrible </em> way of looking at life. Poetic, sure, but a damn bad philosophy."</p><p>Geno frowned, but did not speak. Mario took that as a license to continue.</p><p>"I getcha love the vague and mysterious Star Spirit vibe thing," he said. "Maybe it's cuz you're a zillion years old. Maybe that means ya don't have to listen to a kid like me. But, if you ask Mario, the worst thing a person can do is just abandon the people we love by leaving them behind. Mama Maria is still with me here." He pointed at his head. "Here." Then to his heart. "And most importantly, over there, wherever Weegee is. She died protecting him. And he might be scared of anything that boos, but he has her heart, too."</p><p>And, he thought, her strength, as well. Even though he wasn't brave, he could withstand anything. Mario...Mario wasn't sure he himself could.</p><p>If he lost Peach, what would he do? He didn't want to even consider it.</p><p>"I know that might be the corniest thing I've ever said. But we are nothing without our memories, 'specially of those that we love. And they're nothing, now, without those memories of them that we cherish most." He took a breath, brushing back the damp tears from his eyes. "That’s what my Mama Maria always used to say, anyway…"</p><p>And Luigi did too, in his own Weegee way.</p><p>Geno gave him a half-smile. "I wish I could have met her." He paused, discarding the bare flower in the field of dandelions. "Ambar would have liked that, too." That last bit was said in a soft whisper, like a sigh of wind through a leafless wood.</p><p>"That your wife?"</p><p>The doll glared, then snapped, "<em>That's </em> none of your business."</p><p>At the tone of his voice and the sudden sense that the glow gathering beneath the doll's fingers might be more than just swirling rays of sunlight, Mario gulped. He was not, at least not always, as brave as he pretended to be. Thus, he backed away like an upside-down land-crab and said: "Okey-dokey."</p><p>Self-preservation was important in front of beings who could kill you with a single shot.</p><p>The light stopped spinning. Mario sighed, relieved. </p><p>"I thought that was Luigi's thing," Geno said.</p><p>"Eh," Mario said, shrugging his shoulders. "He got it from me first."</p>
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